


Black Ritual

by Lyssandra_Med, orphan_account



Series: Inner Demons [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blackcest (Harry Potter), Dark Magic, F/F, Hermione Granger Scores a Hat Trick, Incest, Multi, Ritual Magic, Rituals, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:53:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssandra_Med/pseuds/Lyssandra_Med, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The best things in life are homemade.
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Andromeda Black Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Andromeda Black Tonks, Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Narcissa Black Malfoy/Andromeda Black Tonks, Hermione Granger/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Narcissa Black Malfoy/Andromeda Black Tonks
Series: Inner Demons [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645057
Comments: 6
Kudos: 125





	Black Ritual

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tekturna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tekturna/gifts).



> Semi-edited, workshopped version of a later portion of The One Within.
> 
> Actual chapter in The One Within will differ. This is more an "in-process" view. 
> 
> Maybe posting this will get me to write more.

“Andi? You’re still up? I can feel Bella, is she-”

“She’s sleeping, passed out around an hour or two ago. She might have had the easiest offering to give but the process still takes its toll.”

“And what about you? Pulling out bone doesn’t sound quite as simple as cutting a lock of hair.”

“Oh, it’s not. It hurt still, but that’s what Skele-Gro and Pain Potions are meant for. I’ll live.”

“True, but are you sure you don’t want to catch some sleep while you can? I can feel it in your shoulders, you’re all tensed up. You need some sleep as much as the rest of us do.”

“And yet you say that as if you haven’t been awake for who knows how many hours…”

“Come on, lay down a little? I can connect you with Bella, it should help to ease you down.”

“...Okay. Just pass me that pillow, would you?”

“Sure…”

“Thanks, Hermes. Join me, would you? Even if you don’t sleep?”

“Oh. Just give me a second, alright? I’ve still got-”

 _“Hermes._ Get my sister’s ass over here, right now.”

“... Yes, Ma’am.”

\---

**_“Good morning, Hermione. Sleeping as a puddle again, are we?”_ **

_‘Yes. Andi had me join in a few hours ago.’_

**_“Ah, and we all know just how much you love giving her what she wants. Yet, you’re not anywhere near sleep. What’s on your mind, Little Witch?”_ **

_‘Nothing. Everything. This… this is it, you know? Finally here…’_

**_“Yes, finally. Andi says it’s all set though. And I’m sure she’ll likely go through it all at least one more time, just to make sure.”_ **

_‘Well, she is quite thorough…’_

**_“Correct. Same as you are, you know. I might have been sleeping since we met with the Broker, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely unaware. I can see you every now and then. You haven’t gone to sleep in what? Fifty hours? Maybe more?”_ **

_‘There’ll be time enough to sleep once this is all over and done with.’_

**_“Hippogriff-dung. There won’t be any time for anything if you end up collapsing before we get to the Ritual. Look, you even managed to coax Andi into sleep. I can feel her heartbeat right now… You’re blanketing everyone. She’s asleep, Bella’s asleep. Why not just join them?”_ **

_‘Because… Well, because what if it all goes wrong? What if I miss something? What if_ **_we’re_ ** _wrong? If the catalyst isn’t prepared just right, or the offerings don’t work like they should? I could end up stuck as_ **_something_ ** _else! Fuck, even Andi said there’s a non-negligible chance I could end up as a fucking python! It worries me.’_

**_“You know you needn’t worry so much, Little Witch. As stated, every one of us has gone through our parts thoroughly. We know what will work, and how it’ll work. You’ll be fine. You need to relax, Hermes. Even if just a bit.”_ **

_‘If I come out of this unscathed you’ll need to stop calling me_ **_Little Witch,_ ** _you know. I’ll have a full body of my own again, and technically I’m older than any of you.’_

**_“Oh, Little Witch… That won’t be enough to change anything after all the days we’ve been stuck together. Besides, your body will be the newest out of all of us. You’ll be blood-bound, soul-bound, and new. Fresh. You’ll still be our Little Witch, no matter how old you were.”_ **

_‘...Thank you, Narcissa.’_

**_“You can show me proper thanks by sleeping, even if only for a few hours. Agreed?”_ **

_‘Agreed…’_

\---

_‘Cissa!’_

**_“...Hmm? What? What!? What’s happened? Hermione-”_ **

_‘Cissa I can feel it! T-the Catalyst, it’s reacting! It’s starting!’_

**_“Then it’s time. The Moon must be high enough…”_ **

_‘Join with me please, I need to fall deep…’_

_“Fuck!”_

“Narcissa? Hermione? Is that you?”

_“It’s us, Bella. We can feel-”_

“About time. I wasn’t bloody sure either of you were going to wake up in time.”

_“Well we’re awake now, we’re sharing… We’re…”_

“I can feel her Bella, she’s touching all of us. That’ll be the Catalyst doing its job then. The Runes all sparked maybe five minutes ago. Should be close, yeah?”

_“I can feel…”_

“Save your breath, Hermes, it’s alright. Just focus on staying together, okay? Andi, come on, let’s go.”

\---

The dripping remains of the Catalyst were, just as Andromeda had initially predicted, darker even than the Everflames pounded into the ring of trees surrounding them.

It was also, just as Bellatrix had warned them, _cold._ The entire Ritual space seemed to be radiating with heat-loss, a pulsing beat that chilled their bones as the cold reached some point of active malevolence.

Was it a consequence of the Source? Or the Endstate?

Narcissa stood at the apex of their little group with teeth gnashing and body swaying side to side, obviously within the throes of the Ritual, Hermione buried deeply somewhere inside of her. The earlier bits of magic might have been the test or the beginning, but it had obviously sent them both into a profoundly heightened state as the night continued. Not only had Narcissa become so restless as to be unable to cease her movements, but Hermione had spread herself thin in an attempt to drape them all beneath the comforting weight of her magic.

Dark, lustful, just a hint of cinnamon-

_It was Halloween, all over again._

Fleeting pulses of warmth, then cold, then near blinding _heat._

The boon was that this was expected. This had been anticipated. This was _known._

Much better to be standing here with an understanding of what was going on, rather than having her fingers deep within Bellatrix, only to suddenly find her mind subsumed beneath Another who wanted those fingers placed elsewhere. Much better to at least have an inkling of _who_ was driving all her emotions into a frenzy.

All around them the flora of the Forest seemed to rustle and shift with the wind that seeped and flew through leaves and branches. In the distance they could barely make out the haunting calls of Centaurs and Creatures stirred to fright and madness with the magic they were set to unleash.

Bellatrix pierced her with a black gaze, “Well? We’re ready, right? Now or never.”

Now or never.

Andromeda shuddered as she withdrew the dagger that they had blessed just last week, her movements revealing the length of it to the Moonlight that fell down upon them. Slowly, as if it weren’t really happening, the light gathered along the edge to drip forward towards the tip. It was a gathering, a beam almost, a single dot that swelled and grew until it was far too harsh to even look at indirectly.

“Let’s go then. Hermes?” Andromeda voiced her request, holding out her hand for Cissa to grasp onto. The blade was a living thing that shivered within her palm, lightly touching against the expanse of creamy skin along Cissa’s forearm not even a second later. This was truly it. Their last moment where all of them could back out-

_Until they couldn’t._

_Magik_ rushed forth, _magik_ filled their bones the second that the blade met skin, a _song_ of pain and longing spilling forth along with the ink that fled Narcissa’s veins. It dripped, and pattered, and seemed to come from endless springs to drip into the hollowed-out depression at their feet. The flow continued to run as the wind picked up around them, haunting sounds caressing their bodies until they felt chilled and frozen, their breath ghosting as vapour while Hermione _left_ Narcissa for another form.

“Hurry now, quickly.” Bellatrix’s voice was harsh and grating against their ears as she dropped the twinned loop of hair into the building pool of blood, body shaking and jerking against her will as she did so. When last it seemed the flow had been depleted, Andromeda withdrew the dagger and pressed her palm upon the wound in an effort to heal the skin. A burst of green, the stinging smell of ozone, and the cut upon her forearm had vanished into a silvered scar.

Andromeda dropped the knife down behind herself as she knelt to gather up the shards of bone looped on twine. Her courage gathered with a swell of magik that left her core _burning,_ the length of Offering dropped into the growing pool. It was more a wellspring now, more a living thing that pulled and soaked and gathered up the energy of the Earth itself in order to fuel the change.

It was _happening._

The Ritual was strong enough to proceed along without them but still required more. Narcissa stood there finally free of the cage within Hermione’s mind, body swaying violently and knees collapsing to the ground in apparent shock-

“Andi- Andi, I can’t hear her, I can’t hear Hermes-”

“Cissa, Cissa it’s alright, just grab the Offering, hurry now!” Panic flooded through Andromeda’s voice as she sought to comfort Narcissa, aware that it was jarring - _likely beyond all measure_ \- but aware as well that time was of the essence.

Narcissa _seemed_ to come back to her senses in an effort to follow through with their plan, body knelt down into the loam and fingers digging to grasp up a chord of offered teeth. A shudder wracked her body as she dropped the length of twine into the pool, bits of white enamel holding still at the top before the tension broke and it fell beneath their view.

How deep was that pool? Did it touch their Patrons?

The air surrounding them went still for a second, one moment, one breath of calm-

Before exploding outwards with a shockwave that left their hearts pounding in their chests, magik flooding into their minds. True Magik, loosed and ready. Magik that thrummed, Magik that built towards an end that they could only hope for. Bubbles met the surface of the pool, filling and exploding with a wet pop that left their knees and shins covered in droplets of red, of black, of ichor that burned with cold-

 _“There!”_ Bellatrix was the first to spot something within the pool, some strand of hair maybe or a length of skin. She threw herself forward as much as she dared, arms digging and splashing through the liquid in search of wherever Hermione had gone.

Andromeda could feel the first lancing bolt of fear invade her spine when Bellatrix pulled back empty, her own body almost automatically throwing her forward as she too began to search. “Cissa, Cissa get over here,” she growled out, her voice a fearful gasp that flitted on the edges of terror.

Calm descended upon the forest.

Fright descended upon their hearts.

“I can’t hear her Andi, I can’t,” Narcissa threw herself forward into the pool on a stomach lain flat onto the forest floor, arms fishing and groping for whatever might lay beneath. “It’s like, it’s like she’s gone or- or something! I can’t _hear_ her anymore!”

The searching continued, pace increasing, until finally, after what felt like minutes but had likely only been seconds, the group found purchase upon _something_ that was hidden deep within the pit. Andromeda felt her hands close around an ankle, Narcissa’s landing upon a hand, and Bellatrix’s laying both palms underneath the unmistakable form of someone’s head.

_Or…_

Not just _someone’s_ head.

_Hermione!_

The group pulled and tugged, lifting and slowly revealing the girl’s lithe form from beneath the cover of the liquid, soon enough hauling her up and out towards a bed of soft grass that they had prepared not even half an hour earlier.

Yet still, the woman within their hold was quiet and unmoving.

“Check her pulse-”

“Already did, I can’t feel anything, she’s covered-”

“-I can’t hear her, I can’t hear her, I can’t hear her-”

Looping worry, looping fear, ringed and rings and rung as bells too loud within their minds.

Andromeda could feel her stomach lurch into her chest with worry, hands pressed deep down onto Hermione’s chest in an effort to wake her from whatever unnatural slumber this was-

“-please don’t go, don’t go, don’t leave me-” Narcissa repeated in ever-increasing tones of fright, her body nudging Bellatrix out of her way, her tears revealing the faintest blotches of pale skin where they landed upon Hermione. Soon enough she had her palms on Hermione’s cheeks, her head cradled onto her thighs, body rocking back and forth as sobs burst forth.

The ichor seemed to stick - _red and black and death all over_ \- to Hermione with persistence where it was not washed by tears, her hair a damp clump of material that left no strands but a mop, her lips and face covered fully by the material. Narcissa seemed unconcerned by whatever that liquid was, her body leaned forward to press a kiss upon Hermione’s lips, just as words continued spilling forth.

“-please, please Hermione, hear us, I know you can, I know you can. Please, please, we love you-”

The kiss met, lips connected, something instinctual welling up inside Andromeda’s heart until she had lifted Hermione’s wrist to her lips. Bellatrix appeared to be in much the same throes of something powerful, her actions mirroring Andromeda’s as each smeared black upon their lips-

_“Fuck!”_

The body in their grasp jerked forward and up, two eyes now opening and shining white amid the darkness.

A chest heaved.

The body curled.

 _Hermione_ **_lived._ **


End file.
